Skirt-adjuster.



No. 757,076. PATENTED APR. 12, 1904.

' H. WBTHERBY.

SKIRT ADJUSTER. 1

APPLICATION FILED D30. 17, 1903.

no MODEL.

drains Patented April 12, 1904.

aren't rrren.

SPURT-ADJUSTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,076, dated April 12, 1904.

Application filed December 17, 1903. Serial No. 185,583. (No model!) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WETHERBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skirt- Adjusters; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in skirt and waist adjusters; and the object of the invention is to produce a device of this character whereby an eflicient supporter for a skirt and reliable means for fastening the ends of the skirt-band together about the waist, as well as affording means for adjusting a shirt-waist, are afforded; and the advantages of my invention over other skirt-supporting devices comprise the discarding of the hook-and-eye fastener which is commonly used and which affords constant trouble to the woman.

Another advantagewhich is obtained from my invention is the preventing of the rising of the waist in the back with the movements of the wearer.

More specifically, the invention comprises a frame-plate, to which a band of any suitable fabric is secured, and provided with socket members, which are adapted to receive hooks carried at the meeting ends of the band of a skirt, said frame-plate being adapted to be held, and also the band, in an adjusted position by means of a pin passing through the portion of a shirt-waist and the part of the vband intermediate the marginal outline of an elongated aperture in the frame-plate, thus affording an easy and an efficient means for adjusting the device for use.

The invention consists, further, in various details of construction and in combinations and arr. ngements of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically defined in the appended claims.

I illustrate my invention in the accompanying drawings, which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of this application, and in which drawings similar trated in the other views for the purpose of adapting the same for wear with persons desiring higher and lower waist-lines. Fig. 7 is an elevation showing my improved device as applied to the waist of a garment.

- Reference now being had to the details of the drawings by letter, A designates a band of any kind of fabric, the ends of said band carrying any suitable fastening means A, and B designates a metallic plate having two transverse slots B adjacent to the ends of the plate and through which said band A passes. Projecting from the marginal edge of an elongated aperture in said plate are the integral hooks b, which are caught in one of the marginal edges of said band, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, thus securely holding the plate in place upon the band. Along the upper marginal edge of the plate are metallic straps C, forming socket members for the reception of the hooks,which are carried by the skirt. Said hooked members, which are carried by the skirt, (designated in the drawings by letter D,) are secured to the waistband of the skirt adjacent to its meeting ends. Said hooked members D are shown in the drawings as fastened to the band of the skirt by stitching; but they may be fastened in any suitable manner. The free ends of said hooks are dis posed in opposite directions and are adapted each to engage one of said straps,and said hooks are so fastened to the skirt-band that when the two hooks are brought together and caught in the slot provided to receive them one end of the skirt-band will overlap the other, and the meeting ends will be securely held together, as will be readily understood.

Inasmuch as most women have great unwillingness to bother with anything of this nature that requires sewing or preparation of the waist before wearing, it is my desire to afford as simple a means as possible for the fastening of the frame-plate to the shirt-waist, and to this end an ordinary steel pin is employed by using it in the textile fabric of the band without any direct contact with the metallic frame-plate, thus making it flexible and avoiding stiffness and a liability to tear the fabric of the waist; but of course there are other appliances, as hooks, buttons, and kindred means of fastening, that may be employed. In adjusting my improved skirtholder and waist-retainer, the band being already inserted through the slots in the frameplate and secured as herein described, the band where it crosses the aperture in the frame-plate, now laid open, is secured to the plait or gather of the shirt-waist in the back and on the waist-line by means of three or more stitches taken with a steel pin extending the length of the aperture and passing through the band and the central gathers or plaits of the back of the shirt-waist. The pin when so engaged lies directly in the aperture in the frame-plate, and the shirt-waist is then in readiness to be put pm by the wearer in the usual manner. The band is brought around upon each side and fastened together with a clasp and secured to a corset-hook to keep it from turning or shifting around to either side. The appliance may then be allowed to remain thus attached to the waist until it is desired to change it to another waist. The two hooks which are sewed to the skirt-band are so positioned as to bring, when caught in the socket members C, the two plaits of the skirt where they are attached to the band together at that point.

When my appliance is used in connection with waists that open in the back and skirts that open on the side, in case of the latter, the hooks being used upon the inside of the skirtband two inches apart in the back, it is obvious that there is the same convenience in adjusting and the same perfect service as with the ordinary skirt. With the open-in-the-back waist, the attachment being made to the overlapping portion before buttoning, there are the same advantages that go with its use upon other waists.

In applying the skirt the hook on the underneath end of the band is slipped into one of the socket members, the band being held with one hand, so the hook will not drop out while the other book is being caught into the second socket upon the plate. This may be easily accomplished by taking a firm grip upon the portion of the band beyond the fixed end of the hook. The end of the book may be first caught in the recess or sinkage H, formed at the opening of the socket portion. and by fulcruming the free end of the hook over the edge of the strap forming the socket the hook may be used as a lever in drawing the ends of the band taut to allow the hook to slide under the strap.

It is obvious that as the waist is directly in the center with this attachment the skirt .must also be, and as all are fastened together there is no danger of a change of position, and the waist will be held against rising or sagging away from the fastening, this centering of the garments in the back and the certainty of their remaining in such position being an important feature of my invention.

In Fig. 6 of the drawings I have shown a slight modification in the shape of the plate which is carried by the band, thus adapting the device for adjustment for a high or low waist-line.

.While I have shown a particular construction of apparatus embodying the features of my invention, it will be understood that I may make alterations, if desired, without departing in any way from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A skirt and waist adjuster comprising a band of textile fabric, a slotted frame-plate upon said band, hooks projecting from the marginal edge of an elongated aperture in said plate, which hooks are fastened to the marginal edge of said band, straps forming socket members upon said plate, combined with hooks secured at unequal distances from the ends of a skirt-band and adapted to be caught in said socket members in opposite directions, as set forth.

2. A skirt and waist adjuster comprising a band of textile fabric adapted to be fastened about the body of a wearer, a metallic slotted frame-plate mounted upon said band and having integral hooks along the marginal edge of an aperture in said plate, to which the marginal edge of the band is fastened, and fastening means carried by the portion of the band intermediate said slots and designed to be secured to the center line of the back of a shirtwaist, combined with hooks secured adjacent to the meeting ends of the band of a skirt adapted to be caught in socket members forming a portion of said plate, as setforth.

3. A skirt and waist adjuster comprising a band adapted to be fastened about the body of a wearer, a slotted metallic plate mounted upon said band, means for fastening the portion of the band intermediate the slots of the plate to a shirt-waist, straps forming socket members upon said plate, the portions of the plate adjacent to the inner edges of said straps being sunken or depressed, combined with hooks secured to the meeting ends of the band In testimony whereof I hereunto affiX my of a skirt and in opposite directions, the ends signature in presence of two Witnesses. of said hooks adapted to be positioned in said depressions at the ends of the straps and be HENRY WVETHERBY' 5 fulcrumed over the edges of the straps to Witnesses:

draw the Waist-band of the skirt taut, as set HENRY J. DAVENPORT,

forth. CAROLINE OEHRLE. 

